9685. 'And you shall put the table on the north side' means good dwelling in obscurity. This is clear from the meaning of 'the table', on which the loaves of the Presence were laid, as a receptacle of heavenly blessings, dealt with in 9527, 'the loaves' being celestial good, which comes from the Lord, 9545; and from the meaning of 'the north' as obscurity so far as the truths of faith are concerned, dealt with in 3708, and since truth is in obscurity, so too is good. For in the Lord's spiritual kingdom good manifests itself by means of truth, and truth is perceived as good when it passes from the understanding into the will. This good is the good of charity towards the neighbour, and it is called spiritual good. It is different in the Lord's celestial kingdom. There good does not manifest itself as such by means of truth; rather those there enjoy direct insight into that good. From this it becomes clear why that table was placed on the side towards the north, and the lampstand on the side towards the south. But see what has been stated and shown immediately above in 9684 on these matters.

1304. That 'let us build ourselves a city and a tower' means that they fabricated a form of doctrine and of worship becomes clear from the meaning of 'a city' and from the meaning of 'a tower', dealt with in the paragraphs that follow this. The Church is such that when charity towards the neighbour departs and self-love takes its place, the doctrine of faith is of no account at all except insofar as it can be converted into worship of self. Nor do people consider that worship contains anything holy unless it exists for the sake of self, thus unless it is worship of self. This applies to all self-love. In fact a person who loves himself more than others not only hates everybody who is not subservient to him and shows no favour to them except when they have become subservient, but also, to the extent that he is not prevented, he plunges even into exalting himself above God. The fact that self-love is such when given free rein I have been shown in actual occurrences. These are the things meant by 'a city and a tower'. Self-love, and every desire springing from it, is of all things the filthiest and most unholy, and is very hell itself. From this anyone may deduce the nature of the worship that has such as this within it.